Annie V. Washington Flott Local author Annie V. (Washington) Flott, of the Paul Bayou community near Calvert, has reached a personal milestone by having her first book published.

The book, "Black Clone's Wife," is a short science fiction action novel that takes the reader into the world of illegal human cloning. The wife of a man who was cloned searches for her real husband, but keeps encountering his clones. When the FBI gets involved, things go haywire and the ending is reminiscent of an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

Flott, who was the third of four children, born to the late Ruth and George T. Washington, of Calvert, attended Alabama A&M University from 1969- 1973, where she majored in computer science. Following college, she lived and worked in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minn.; Chattanooga Tenn. and Mobile and Washington counties.

She is currently retired and now devotes most of her spare time to writing. "I've been writing since I was a teenager," she said. "I've written children's books, religious plays, poems, ghost stories and songs. This is my first time having a novel published."

Flott's book is available on a number of popular Web sites. Because she is a fan of science fiction, action and mystery books and movies, it is no surprise that Flott included all of those elements in her first novel. In the past she has even written some ghost stories, including one titled, "Paul Bayou Gold," which appeared in the Halloween 2006 edition of The South Alabamian.

"From comments I've received on my e-mail, it has shocked many people that I've actually published a book," said Flott. "But, I can't just sit around and do nothing. I enjoy writing and I want to keep busy."

Those interested in purchasing Flott's book, which is published under the name Annie V. Washington, can visit the following Web sites: *www.publishamerica.com *www.target.com *www.Yahoo.com *www.books-a-million.com *www.amazon.com *www.BN.com *www.chapters.com

The company that published her book is Publish America, which can also be accessed on the Web at www.PublishAmerica.com.